Dolores Claiborne (1995)
Directed by Taylor Hackford
Dolores Claiborne was accused of killing her abusive husband twenty years ago, but the court's findings were inconclusive and she was allowed to walk free. Now she has been accused of killing her employer, Vera Donovan, and this time there is a witness who can place her at the scene of the crime. Things look bad for Dolores when her daughter Selena, a successful Manhattan magazine writer, returns to cover the story.
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What critics compared Dolores Claiborne to
This depiction of the past’s stronghold recalls a moment in Taylor Hackford’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Dolores Claiborne (1995), wherein forgotten sexual abuse inflicted upon Jennifer Jason Leigh’s character flood back to the present, and she’s only able to see the back of her head in a mirror’s reflection.
…with something like Dolores Claiborne on the less-fun and more angry at dad end, and Maximum Overdrive at peak ’80s nose powder excess…
The Shawshank Redemption, Pet Sematary, Carrie, Lisey’s Story, Dolores Claiborne, Hearts in Atlantis, The Dark Tower.
And Muschietti reshapes the source material to allow appropriation of visuals and tropes from King-based classics such as Carrie, The Shining, Dolores Claiborne and, most flagrantly, Stand by Me.
Simply put, "It: Chapter One" is the best big-screen Stephen King adaptation since at least 1995's "Dolores Claiborne," an assured, personal, deeply touching work that transcends its horror roots while playing beautifully on multiple levels.
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To help further understand the nature of the film, consider that its writer and director, Tony Gilroy, also wrote the screenplays for "Dolores Claiborne," "The Devil's Advocate," "Extreme Measures," and the three "Bourne" films.
Tony Gilroy certainly knows a thing or two about writing smart, character-driven pieces, having penned all three of the Bourne screenplays as well as films like Dolores Claiborne .
Adaptations of Stephen King horror have produced wildly uneven results from the classic ("Carrie," "The Shining," "Misery") to the disaster ("Children of the Corn," "Maximum Overdrive," "Dreamcatcher"), the middling ("Cujo," "Christine," "Secret Window") to the under appreciated ("Dolores Claiborne," "Apt Pupil").
Hackford, having directed movies like An Officer And A Gentleman, Dolores Claiborne, and The Devil's Advocate , turns out another richly textured film, gripping, suspenseful, and brimming with good performances not only by Crowe, but by Meg Ryan, David Morse, and David Caruso, among others.
Director Taylor Hackford, responsible for overrated crowd-pleasers like An Officer and a Gentleman and Devil's Advocate as well as underrated dramas like Dolores Claiborne and Everybody's All-American, does a creditable job of infusing a talky script with thrills until the denouement.